JOHNSTOWN - During an emotional day of testimony, the alleged victim of a brutal sexual assault described the alleged attack while the attorneys representing the defendants questioned the victim's physical and mental state.
The accuser, a 32-year-old Gloversville woman, claims to have been raped by four men - LaTerence "Texas Toast" Wilson, 24, of Gloversville; Michael "Skitso" Deveaux Jr., 20, of Schenectady; Ezequial "Hoodie" Rouse, 27, of Schenectady; and Tyson Stratton, 30 - in the alley next to Quig's tavern in Gloversville at around 2 a.m. May 16.
The accuser said Stratton was at the bar the night of the attack. He told her she smelled good and asked if he could "get a piece" of her, the accuser said. She said she shrugged it off and told him she was gay and had a girlfriend.
Later while she was smoking outside the bar, she said she felt hands grabbing her arms and torso, dragging her into the alley. She was stripped of her pants and underwear, raped repeatedly, and forced to perform oral sex for "what seemed like forever," she said. She screamed and her attackers pushed her into the wall and took off running, she said.
She pulled up her pants, went back into the bar and called her ex-girlfriend to come to the bar, she said.
"I went back into the bar ... because I was too scared to be alone," she said.
The accuser said she did not call police or tell her friends immediately after the attack occurred because she was ashamed. She said she took a bath the next day because she felt "disgusting and dirty."
"I just wanted to get it off me," she said.
When she went to the hospital and a rape examination was performed, she said she resisted when the nurse attempted to examine her genital area.
"I resisted ... I didn't want anyone to see my body," she said. "I was too ashamed, embarrassed."
When asked to identify her attackers, the accuser became distraught and started crying while identifying the four men in court. When asked to look at the shirt she was wearing the night of the attack and of pictures taken of her injuries, she broke down again.
Gloversville attorney Heidi Gifford, who is representing Stratton, presented information about the accuser's drug use. The accuser admitted to having used marijuana, cocaine and crystal meth but said she had not used any illegal drugs the day before or the day of the attack.
Gifford also questioned the alleged victim's drinking on the night of the attack. The alleged victim said she had two beers and two shots while at the bar and had a few drinks in the several hours prior to going to the bar.
The accuser admitted to having been hospitalized in April, the month before the alleged attack, for threatening to commit suicide. She said she had been increasingly depressed and was made more depressed by trouble she was having with her girlfriend and went to the hospital to get help. She also said she was on several medications, including some for Crohn's disease, a seizure disorder, and for depression and anxiety.
"Isn't it a fact that you're not supposed to consume alcohol while taking these medications?" Gifford asked.
The accuser said she had been told by medical officials that it was all right for her to have a few cocktails.
She also asked if the accuser got back together with her girlfriend after her hospitalization in April. The victim said she did. Gifford asked the accuser if she and her girlfriend broke up a short while later, prior to the alleged attack, then got back together after the alleged attack. The accuser admitted they had.
Gifford also touched on the accuser's past relationship with police. She said the accuser called police eight times since 2005, twice to report that a friend was planning to commit suicide. Gifford then pointed out the accuser, who was familiar with police, didn't contact police right away after the incident.
Gifford asked the accuser to state how many drinks she had prior to going to the bar. The accuser said she had two or three, but Gifford pointed to a police report made several days after the alleged attack in which a police officer indicated the accuser said she had nine or 10 drinks. Gifford also asked the accuser if she had ever had blood in her stool due to her Crohn's disease. The accuser said she had. Gifford ventured that the blood found in the accuser's rectum during the rape examination could be explained by the accuser's Crohn's disease.
Kayleigh Karutis covers Gloversville news. She can be reached at gloversville@leaderherald.com.
